Some background info on the school site and school from the Parker article: Negotiating Academic Legitimacy: Integrating Multimedia Literacies into School-based Learning
The context for this study was the 2007—2008 12th grade Seminar class at Neighborhood Small School in California, one of a number of small “academies” making up the area’s only public high school. Neighborhood school is located in an urban area and has a very small student body population with 240 students. In 2007—2008, when I gathered data, students were from a range of ethnic, cultural, economic and educational backgrounds.
I chose the upper-division media program at Neighborhood as the site of the study for three reasons. First, during the 1999—2000 academic year I taught at the school, this was prior to its small school reformation. I had developed relationships with some of the teachers who would eventually teach at Neighborhood. This made gaining access to the school easier. Second, I chose Neighborhood because of its devotion to media literacy and the integration of multimedia projects across its curriculum. I did not want to study a classroom environment in which media analysis took precedence over media production. From attending local youth film festivals and my exploratory study in 2005—2006, I knew that the students from this program were consistently producing films. Third, I chose to study this site because of the dearth of research on the media program compared to the previously published work concerning issues of race, class, and academic performance at the large high school. Numerous educators, journalists and film crews have walked the halls of the large school but researchers have rarely focused their attention on Neighborhood Small School’s 11-year old media program.
The racial demographics of the 55 students making up Neighborhood’s senior class were 49% African-American, 25% Latino, 25% White, and 1% Asian. These demographics differed from the overall breakdown of the high school as a whole: 35% African-American, 35% White, 16% Latino, 13%, Asian-American, and 1% other. Often students transfer from different schools districts to attend small schools at this site, including Neighborhood. In some instances, families give fake addresses in order for children to attend the school. Two of my six focal students lived outside city limits and gave incorrect addresses to attend. At the time of my study, the school district did not record economic data for its students. For placement into the category of “economically disadvantaged,” the primary source of information was a student’s qualification for free or reduced lunch and their self-identification as low income. Forty percent of the 12th grade students responded that they qualified in one or both of these categories. Neighborhood staff believed many students qualified but did not receive free or reduced lunch. The teaching staff’s years of experience ranged from three to twenty-two years; one third of the staff were teachers of color; and the small school offered courses in English, history, math, science, Spanish, physical education, and media.
Seminar
I focused my research on the 3-course program for 12th graders called Seminar. The course was collaborative and cross-curricular and encompassed Genre in Literature (English), BEST History (Social Sciences), and Advanced Studio Editing (Visual Arts). Each class, whether it was English, history, or media, was 55 minutes in length and students had these three periods in a row, either from 8:30—11:32 AM or 9:36 AM—1:16 PM (this included lunch).
The context for this study was the 2007—2008 12th grade Seminar class at Neighborhood Small School in California, one of a number of small “academies” making up the area’s only public high school. Neighborhood school is located in an urban area and has a very small student body population with 240 students. In 2007—2008, when I gathered data, students were from a range of ethnic, cultural, economic and educational backgrounds.
I chose the upper-division media program at Neighborhood as the site of the study for three reasons. First, during the 1999—2000 academic year I taught at the school, this was prior to its small school reformation. I had developed relationships with some of the teachers who would eventually teach at Neighborhood. This made gaining access to the school easier. Second, I chose Neighborhood because of its devotion to media literacy and the integration of multimedia projects across its curriculum. I did not want to study a classroom environment in which media analysis took precedence over media production. From attending local youth film festivals and my exploratory study in 2005—2006, I knew that the students from this program were consistently producing films. Third, I chose to study this site because of the dearth of research on the media program compared to the previously published work concerning issues of race, class, and academic performance at the large high school. Numerous educators, journalists and film crews have walked the halls of the large school but researchers have rarely focused their attention on Neighborhood Small School’s 11-year old media program.
The racial demographics of the 55 students making up Neighborhood’s senior class were 49% African-American, 25% Latino, 25% White, and 1% Asian. These demographics differed from the overall breakdown of the high school as a whole: 35% African-American, 35% White, 16% Latino, 13%, Asian-American, and 1% other. Often students transfer from different schools districts to attend small schools at this site, including Neighborhood. In some instances, families give fake addresses in order for children to attend the school. Two of my six focal students lived outside city limits and gave incorrect addresses to attend. At the time of my study, the school district did not record economic data for its students. For placement into the category of “economically disadvantaged,” the primary source of information was a student’s qualification for free or reduced lunch and their self-identification as low income. Forty percent of the 12th grade students responded that they qualified in one or both of these categories. Neighborhood staff believed many students qualified but did not receive free or reduced lunch. The teaching staff’s years of experience ranged from three to twenty-two years; one third of the staff were teachers of color; and the small school offered courses in English, history, math, science, Spanish, physical education, and media.
Seminar
I focused my research on the 3-course program for 12th graders called Seminar. The course was collaborative and cross-curricular and encompassed Genre in Literature (English), BEST History (Social Sciences), and Advanced Studio Editing (Visual Arts). Each class, whether it was English, history, or media, was 55 minutes in length and students had these three periods in a row, either from 8:30—11:32 AM or 9:36 AM—1:16 PM (this included lunch).